SI:AM | Everything Wrong With Michigan’s ‘Bail Mary’

Good morning, everyone! Brigid Kennedy here, coming off the bench to sub in for Dan Gartland. I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day and a wonderful long weekend. Thanks for letting us take the day off yesterday.

In today’s SI:AM:

🤔 The College Football Conspiracy Machine Is Powering Up

❌ CFP Eliminator: Which Teams Are Out After Week 1?

🏈 NFL Coaches, GMs, Execs on Who the Best QB Will Be at Season’s End

The College Controversies Have Already Begun

On Friday, my colleague Patrick walked you through Massachusetts’s upset victory over Rutgers, a shocking win for one of college football’s lowliest programs and one followed by the saddest fireworks display you have ever seen. Now, considering we’ve got a full weekend of college football under our belts, let’s take a look back at everything that happened over the last few days.

To begin: The powerhouses dominated the weekend. Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Indiana and more all steamrolled their unranked opponents in lopsided Saturday victories, easing into the regular season with the authority we’ve come to expect of the biggest names in FBS. LSU also walloped Clemson 51–10 in coach Lane Kiffin’s Death Valley debut, a highly anticipated matchup considering the noise around the Louisiana program in recent weeks (“Imagine if we had pro players,” Kiffin quipped heading into halftime).

The most notable tilt of the weekend, however, was actually a much more subdued affair … at least until the final play of the night, when No. 16 Michigan narrowly escaped an embarrassing upset at the hands of Western Michigan. It sure looked like the Broncos had done it–on TV replays, it appeared that Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood had thrown a dud as time expired, thereby handing Western Michigan the win. But Big Ten officials then put a second back on the clock, which meant Michigan had time for one more Hail Mary. Improbably, Underwood’s last-ditch attempt resulted in a 47-yard touchdown, and the Wolverines won the game.

In some ways, this is the exact type of absurdity we’ve missed from college football—though that certainly was not the Broncos’ takeaway. "If you look at what [officials] saw, then you reach the conclusion they reached," Western Michigan president Russ Kavalhuna told ESPN on Sunday night. “However, if you look at what the broadcasters broadcast, you reach a different conclusion.

"I think it would be good to ask ourselves, can we sync those up so that the viewers could see what the officials would be looking at?"

That’s a fair question worth answering in the interest of stemming an ongoing credibility crisis in the world of college football, in which an understandably skeptical public is left to scratch its heads regarding matters of fairness and collusion once more. Is this just another conspiracy to get up in arms about? Or was it truly an unintentional discrepancy between the broadcast and the Big Ten, which is ultimately responsible for keeping the official time of the game? Whatever it was, it was a big, big flop.

Lost in all this hullabaloo is that, although the Wolverines narrowly escaped (in what some believe to be a manner befitting of the program’s, say, controversial history), they should not be proud of that result. In fact, what the viral ending has overshadowed is just how sloppy Michigan played in Kyle Whittingham’s debut as head coach. Despite a strong start and that miraculous finish, the offense was pushed around. Underwood had turned back into a pumpkin by the end of the night. And Whittingham wasn’t impressed either.

“We were flirting with disaster,” the coach said. “That would have been an epic loss. They’ll talk about this game for years, I’m sure.”

No kidding. That things even came down to an extra second is telling of the game the group had, one that was unbecoming of its Top 25 ranking and a downright embarrassment to start the year. As a result, our Tim Capurso predicts Michigan will fall to No. 22 in the AP’s Top 25 poll, which will drop at 2 p.m. ET today. Let’s see what happens.

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The Five Best …

… things I saw this weekend

5. Sometimes, we Americans can truly rally together around the things that matter, like when these Royals fans placed a giant inflatable glizzy inside the giant inflatable hot dog bun in under 30 seconds. Brings a tear to my eye.

4. The Florida humidity this time of year is not for the weak.

3. The Niners are already in Australia, gearing up for their Thursday night game against the Rams. Coach Kyle Shanahan is having a hard time understanding how time works.

2. One incredible meme.

1. … And another (I had my fantasy draft last night, so the sentiment hits home).

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